Energy. Environment. Economy.

13,500 PA homes still without safe heating source this winter

Amy Sisk reports for StateImpact Pennsylvania and WESA, Pittsburgh's NPR member station. She comes to Pennsylvania from another energy-rich state, North Dakota, where she told stories from coal mines, wind farms and the Bakken oil patch for Inside Energy and Prairie Public Broadcasting. Amy's stories often air on NPR, including those from the eight months she spent following the Dakota Access Pipeline protests. A reporting trip to the Bakken during its boom years sparked her interest in energy. Ever since, she's covered the industry -- from the way it is regulated to its influence on policy to its impact on people and the environment.

A pipeline moves natural gas through the Mid-Atlantic region during frigid winter months when many homes rely on gas for heat. This winter in Pennsylvania, more than 13,000 households lack a safe home heating source.

As Pennsylvania moves into the latter part of winter, 13,500 households that started the season without a safe source of heat still don’t have one.

Data released Wednesday by Pennsylvania’s Public Utility Commission shows there are fewer homes without a utility heating service this winter compared to last year. But when money’s tight, many families still turn to heating sources that pose fire risks.

“Typically when you’re looking at a home that’s using unsafe heat, it would be using things like fireplaces and space heaters in lieu of their central heating systems,” said Nils Hagen-Frederiksen, a spokesperson for the commission.

In December, the PUC reported 19,300 homes without electric or gas heat, which indicates that several thousand families have gotten their service reconnected in recent months. Pennsylvania utilities cannot turn off residents’ heat during the winter without approval from the PUC.

Hagen-Frederiksen said families struggling to pay their heating bills have options, but many people don’t know they exist.

“Until you reach that stage, people don’t necessarily make note of the types of programs and services that are available to them,” he said. “When they reach the point that they’ve stopped paying their utility bills, it very quickly gets to a crisis situation.”